Many adults on social media have declared themselves glad to be done with 2016. For youth and their parents, there were certainly moments of angst and uncertainty, but also moments of inspiration and just plain fun. A few of the highlights we noted across the year:

American Academy of Pediatrics Changes Recommendations for Screen Time

In our YouthBeat® and YouthBeat® Jr. surveys, parents routinely report that preschoolers, kids, and tweens have about 2 hours of screen time a day—which we believe is woefully underreported. But we know why. For many years, pediatricians have been telling parents that children under the age of 2 shouldn’t have any TV time, and that older kids should have no more than 2 hours—so that’s what parents tell themselves is happening. Over the last five years, the presence of tablets and smartphones in homes and schools has accelerated, as has the beneficial content available to youth—including not just educational material, but also high-quality entertainment in television programming and online content. The American Academy of Pediatrics last fall defined “screen time” as only the digital exposure that is entertainment-related. Schoolwork doesn’t count. For 2-5 year-olds, the new recommendation is an hour a day, and for 6 year-olds and above, there is no time limit recommendation. Rather, parents are encouraged to have their children take breaks, spend quality face-to-face time, and help their children understand what high-quality entertainment looks like. We expect in coming years that parents’ estimates of screen time will increase.

Sea World Announces End of Orca Whale Breeding and Shows

Though spurred by pressure from adults over the breeding and treatment of the marine mammals, the gesture is consistent with what Generation Z expects and demands from the adults who are the custodians of nature. Along those lines, an 11-year old Michigan boy started a non-profit called Polar Army with the aim of raising awareness of the impact of global warming on the polar bear population. Some teens even became activists for climate change, suing the federal government for knowing about the threat of climate change for decades, but continuing to endanger the lives of future generations. They say this limits their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Stay tuned for news from the courts to see what happens—and know that this generation expects adults to be responsible in their use and care of the environment and the human and animal creatures that inhabit it.

Flint, MI Water Crisis Extends Across U.S.

Since the tainted water crisis in Flint became national news in 2015, other municipalities began testing their own water supplies—particularly those in schools. An alarming number were found to have unsafe amounts of lead. So much so that in our YouthBeat Global study, U.S. parents were more likely to encourage their children to drink bottled water (66%) than tap water (57%). Parents only in Mexico, China, and India were more likely than parents in the U.S. to prefer bottled to tap water. In late 2016, criminal charges were filed against several local government officials in Flint who allegedly knew of the dangerous water content and did not act to protect the children in their constituencies. Youth were unable to stand up for themselves as these dangerous waters flowed to them—but the effects of the tainted water could be felt for decades.

Pokémon Go

It’s rated E for Everyone and took the country by storm in the summer of 2016. C+R Research even blogged about the #GottaCatchEmAll craze and why it was a game changer…in the adult world. For kids, just like adults, it represented a fun way to get out and move around without consciously exercising. And, when played with parents, it was a great way to bond and spend time together. But the parents in our Parentspeak community had mixed feelings about the game. As one mom summed it up, “The 10 year-old wanted to play but I didn’t want her wandering off and getting into places she shouldn’t be, so she entertains herself with other games.” Their concerns were largely around children playing by themselves—parents were happy to allow children to play from the car while driving past Pokémon, or with parental supervision. Our take at YouthBeat® is that the Pokémon Go craze is perfectly fine for kids to play, with a responsible adult playing alongside.

Colin Kaepernick Takes a Knee

Colin Kaepernik of the San Francisco 49ers made headlines last fall for kneeling during the national anthem before football games. His actions, in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, caught a lot of backlash on social media as being Anti-American and anti-veteran. Moreover, in a Yahoo/YouGov poll, a third of NFL fans said they were watching less football than usual, and 40% of them blamed Colin Kaepernick’s protests. At the same time, he inspired some high school football players to kneel during the national anthem at their own games. From Seattle to North Carolina, teens followed suit in support of BLM. We’ve written before about the importance of the movement to multicultural youth, as it was inspired by the deaths of African-American children as young as age 12. Kneeling is their way of saying they’re aware, they care, and they are taking sides.

These are just a few of the events that shaped the lives of youth in 2016. For creators of content and products for youth, 2017 represents a new opportunity to inspire, to entertain, and to delight the youngest consumers. We look forward to seeing what our youth + family clients provide to support their well-being, and we are here to help.

Here at YouthBeat, we’re always keeping our eyes on the shifting nature of youth generations. We recognize these generations are shaped not just by birth rates and demographic trends, but also by the prevailing characteristics and spirit of the times in which they are born.

Everyone’s read a lot about Millennials. And many brands have been paying attention to Generation Z for several years now. But we have some news for you—move over Generation Z, there’s new kids on the block! Yes, Gen Z is still crucial for brands to understand and create content for – in fact, check out our report.

That leads us to the introduction of Generation Alpha. Born starting in 2010 (the year the iPad was introduced), they are demographically different from their two preceding generations.

The world in which they’re growing up is substantially more technological, accelerating, and crowdsourced.

And brands need to start paying attention to them too and incorporate them in their long-term strategies (or now for those who serve preschoolers!).